Westside Bible Studies

Prayer works. So does working to bring people back to the Lord. But it does make for an interesting ending to the Letter of James.

The Letter of James | James 5:13-20

Is anyone among you suffering? He should pray. Is anyone in good spirits? He should sing praises.

Is anyone among you ill? He should summon the elders of the church, and they should pray for him and anoint him with olive oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer of faith will save the one who is sick and the Lord will raise him up – and if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven.

So confess your sins to one another and pray for one another so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great effectiveness. Elijah was a human being like us, and he prayed earnestly that it would not rain and there was no rain on the land for three years and six months! Then he prayed again, and the sky gave rain and the land sprouted with a harvest.

My brothers and sisters, if anyone among you wanders from the truth and someone turns him back, he should know that the one who turns a sinner back from his wandering path will save that person’s soul from death and will cover a multitude of sins.

How does James encourage Christians to exhibit patience? And what's all this about oaths and swearing?

We consider what James has to say in James 5:7-12.

The Letter of James | James 5:7-12

So be patient, brothers and sisters, until the Lord’s return. Think of how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the ground and is patient for it until it receives the early and late rains. You also be patient and strengthen your hearts, for the Lord’s return is near. Do not grumble against one another, brothers and sisters, so that you may not be judged. See, the judge stands before the gates! As an example of suffering and patience, brothers and sisters, take the prophets who spoke in the Lord’s name. Think of how we regard as blessed those who have endured. You have heard of Job’s endurance and you have seen the Lord’s purpose, that the Lord is full of compassion and mercy. And above all, my brothers and sisters, do not swear, either by heaven or by earth or by any other oath.

But let your “Yes” be yes and your “No” be no, so that you may not fall into judgment.

James has words for the wealthy they won't want to hear. Many of us should also find them uncomfortable as well.

The Letter of James | James 5:1-6

Come now, you rich! Weep and cry aloud over the miseries that are coming on you. Your riches have rotted and your clothing has become moth-eaten. Your gold and silver have rusted and their rust will be a witness against you. It will consume your flesh like fire. It is in the last days that you have hoarded treasure! Look, the pay you have held back from the workers who mowed your fields cries out against you, and the cries of the reapers have reached the ears of the Lord of Heaven’s Armies. You have lived indulgently and luxuriously on the earth. You have fattened your hearts in a day of slaughter. You have condemned and murdered the righteous person, although he does not resist you.

James has warnings for Christians who judge one another and merchants who focus on profit. Join us as we explore what we can gain from these warnings and exhortations.

The Letter of James | James 4:11-17

Do not speak against one another, brothers and sisters. He who speaks against a fellow believer or judges a fellow believer speaks against the law and judges the law. But if you judge the law, you are not a doer of the law but its judge. But there is only one who is lawgiver and judge – the one who is able to save and destroy. On the other hand, who are you to judge your neighbor?

Come now, you who say, "Today or tomorrow we will go into this or that town and spend a year there and do business and make a profit."

You do not know about tomorrow. What is your life like? For you are a puff of smoke that appears for a short time and then vanishes.

You ought to say instead, "If the Lord is willing, then we will live and do this or that."

But as it is, you boast about your arrogant plans. All such boasting is evil.

So whoever knows what is good to do and does not do it is guilty of sin.

James has concerns about the mentality and behavior of the Jewish Christians of the Diaspora. Join us as we consider his critique and the way forward he provided in James 4:1-10.

The Letter of James | James 4:1-10

Where do the conflicts and where do the quarrels among you come from? Is it not from this, from your passions that battle inside you? You desire and you do not have; you murder and envy and you cannot obtain; you quarrel and fight. You do not have because you do not ask; you ask and do not receive because you ask wrongly, so you can spend it on your passions.

Adulterers, do you not know that friendship with the world means hostility toward God? So whoever decides to be the world’s friend makes himself God’s enemy.

Or do you think the scripture means nothing when it says, “The spirit that God caused to live within us has an envious yearning”?

But he gives greater grace.

Therefore it says, “God opposes the proud, but he gives grace to the humble.”

So submit to God. But resist the devil and he will flee from you. Draw near to God and he will draw near to you.

Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and make your hearts pure, you double-minded. Grieve, mourn, and weep. Turn your laughter into mourning and your joy into despair. Humble yourselves before the Lord and he will exalt you.

Is "worldly wisdom" really wise?

Why would James want to make contrasts between the wisdom from below and the wisdom from above?

Join us as we consider James' meditations on wisdom in James 3:13-18.

The Letter of James | James 3:13-18

Who is wise and understanding among you? By his good conduct he should show his works done in the gentleness that wisdom brings.

But if you have bitter jealousy and selfishness in your hearts, do not boast and tell lies against the truth. Such wisdom does not come from above but is earthly, natural, demonic. For where there is jealousy and selfishness, there is disorder and every evil practice.

But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, accommodating, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial, and not hypocritical. And the fruit that consists of righteousness is planted in peace among those who make peace.

Why should not many be teachers? What do we do with that instruction?

Why is James so negative about our speech?

The Letter of James | James 3:1-12

Not many of you should become teachers, my brothers and sisters, because you know that we will be judged more strictly.

For we all stumble in many ways.

If someone does not stumble in what he says, he is a perfect individual, able to control the entire body as well.

And if we put bits into the mouths of horses to get them to obey us, then we guide their entire bodies. Look at ships too: Though they are so large and driven by harsh winds, they are steered by a tiny rudder wherever the pilot’s inclination directs. So too the tongue is a small part of the body, yet it has great pretensions.

Think how small a flame sets a huge forest ablaze. And the tongue is a fire! The tongue represents the world of wrongdoing among the parts of our bodies. It pollutes the entire body and sets fire to the course of human existence – and is set on fire by hell.

For every kind of animal, bird, reptile, and sea creature is subdued and has been subdued by humankind. But no human being can subdue the tongue; it is a restless evil, full of deadly poison. With it we bless the Lord and Father, and with it we curse people made in God’s image. From the same mouth come blessing and cursing.

These things should not be so, my brothers and sisters. A spring does not pour out fresh water and bitter water from the same opening, does it? Can a fig tree produce olives, my brothers and sisters, or a vine produce figs? Neither can a salt water spring produce fresh water.

Faith without works is dead. Christians are justified by faith working through love.

There's a lot of doctrinal drama at stake with James 2:14-26. But we should not neglect James' concern to provide for the poor.

James 2:14-26 | The Letter of James

Showing partiality means a lot more to God than we would care to admit. We need to remember how Jesus will be judging us - and He is paying attention to how we judge others.

The Letter of James | James 2:8-13

But if you fulfill the royal law as expressed in this scripture, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself,” you are doing well.

Speak and act as those who will be judged by a law that gives freedom. For judgment is merciless for the one who has shown no mercy. But mercy triumphs over judgment (James 2:8-13).

Join us as we discuss what James has to say for Jewish Christians, and for all of us, in terms of showing prejudice and resisting God's preferential concern for the poor in James 2:1-9!

My brothers and sisters, do not show prejudice if you possess faith in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ.

Listen, my dear brothers and sisters! Did not God choose the poor in the world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom that he promised to those who love him? But you have dishonored the poor! Are not the rich oppressing you and dragging you into the courts? Do they not blaspheme the good name of the one you belong to?

But if you fulfill the royal law as expressed in this scripture, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself,” you are doing well.